Amarnath confident of Indian series triumph

Jamshedpur:Former cricketer Mohinder Amarnath on Thursday admitted that cricket has certainly played an important role in bringing India and Pakistan closer.

"Though cricket is not a part of politics nor the Government's approach to resume the Indo-Pak series after 14 years a political stunt but the overwhelming response to the ongoing series and the public behavior of both the nations was indicative that cricket has played an important role in improving ties between the two neighbours," Amarnath said.

Expressing confidence that the relation between the two countries would develop further, he said the series has also paved way for families living on either side of the border to reunite.

Amarnath said the current series was a real cricket series as the passion and emotion being seen during the matches between the two countries cannot be seen anywhere in the world.

He added that India had a fair chance of winning the on-going Test series.

''Though it would be difficult to predict the outcome of the Rawalpindi match, India has certainly a chance to win the historic series,'' Amarnath said.

Hailing young Irfan Pathan, Balaji and Parthiv Patel for their performance in the ongoing series in Pakistan, he said they were all young and gaining experience with every match.

Appreciating the performance of the Indian side during the last five years, the veteran cricketer said the young Indian team had been improving their performance during the last five years and if they continued to maintain this trend, the team had every possibility to win the 2007 World Cup inWest Indies.